Elm Street 156.pdf
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form. FORM B − BUILDING MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Photograph Topographic or Assessor's Map Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons Organization: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission Date (month /year):
March, 2010 Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number 31B-240 Easthampton NTH.697 Town: Northampton Place: (neighborhood or village) Address: 156 Elm Street Historic Name: M. D.
Ward House Uses: Present: Smith College dormitory Original: Single-family Residence Date of Construction: c. 1880 Source: Registry of Deeds and Atlases Style/Form: French Second Empire
Architect/Builder: Exterior Material: Foundation: brick Wall/Trim: clapboards Roof: slate Outbuildings/Secondary Structures: Major Alterations (with dates): Addition on south, ca. 1990.
Condition: good Moved: no | x | yes | | Date Acreage: 0.183 acres Setting: House sits on a corner corner lot that slopes down to the south.
INVENTORY FORMB CONTINUATION SHEET [NORTHAMPTON ] [156 ELM STREET] MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No. 220MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02125 Continuation
sheet 1 NTH.697 ___ Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form. Use as much
space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets. ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION: Describe architectural features. Evaluate
the characteristics of this building in terms of other buildings within the community. The M. D. Ward House is a French Second Empire house with a modest mansard roof. The two-and-a-half
story building has a transverse gable bay centered on its north façade and a porch that crosses the bay. In the two angles of the main block of the house and the gable bay are one-story
glass-enclosed rooms that may once have been porches. The center porch is a prominent feature of the house as it has and oval shape and its flat roof rests on columns that sit on high
paneled pedestals. Turned balusters form the railing with its rounded corners. The main block of the house is three bays wide and three bays deep and windows have hooded lintels on brackets.
Brackets are also paired at the roof eaves. On the west elevation is a transverse gambrel dormer flanked by two hipped roof dormers. There is a two-and-a-half story added ell on the
south. HISTORICAL NARRATIVE Discuss the history of the building. Explain its associations with local (or state) history. Include uses of the building, and the role(s) the owners/occupants
played within the community. From Form B of 1980: “In 1865, James C. Ward purchased a large tract of land west of Elm Street and bound by the Mill River that became known as ‘Paradise.’
Paradise Road was soon opened and lots sold for residential development. Mr. Ward had his own house on this street, however, by 1885, he had died and his widow Margaret was making her
residence in this house at the corner of Paradise Road and Elm Street. It’s possible the house was built in 1881 when th Wards took a mortgage on this property.In 1896, this parcel was
sold to St. John’s Episcopal Church to be used as a parsonage. Twenty years later, in 1916, Smith College bought the property. It was first used in 1917 as a dormitory. The 1922 directory
lists this as one of the Elm Street Group, consisting of 146, 150, 156, and 164 Elm Street and Mrs. Ester E. Carman, head of the Group, resided here. In 1936, this became the first Smith
College co-operative house. At this time it was renamed Tenney House, in honor of Mrs. Mary Smith Tenney. In 1895, she and her brother, Justin Smith, bequeathed to the College the house
which formerly stoof at the southeast corner of Bedford Terrace and Elm Street. When Alumae House was built at that site in 1936, the name was transferred to 156 Elm Street.” BIBLIOGRAPHY
and/or REFERENCES Beers, F. W. County Atlas of Hampshire Massachusetts, New York, 1873. Hales, John G. Plan of the Town or Northampton in the County of Hampshire, 1831. Miller, D. L.
Atlas of the City of Northampton and Town of Easthampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, Philadelphia, 1895. Walker, George H. and Company. Atlas of Northampton City, Massachusetts,
Boston, 1884. Walling, Henry F. Map of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, New York, 1860. Registry of Deeds: Bk. 723-P.165, 486-341, 478-335, 381-414, 363-414, 228-370 and 385, 214-74,
163-262